Miro Heiskanen has averaged 24:53 through Dallas’s first fifteen games. On Wednesday, coach Glen Gulutzan called him day to day with an upper-body injury, with Thursday’s trip to Columbus looking unlikely. That is a substantial assignment for the Stars to cover even before anyone begins writing a new defensive pairing on the board.
Heiskanen has also produced 11 points in those 15 games, with three goals and eight assists. His value is not captured by the scoring, but the workload offers a plain measure of what Dallas asks from him every night. Nearly 25 minutes is not a spare shift to be redistributed casually.
It is a central part of how the club organizes its defense, moves the puck and survives difficult stretches.
Tuesday’s 6-5 win over Washington gave the Stars a quick answer to one question: could they get through one game after Heiskanen was hurt? They did. It did not answer the more important question of whether the same arrangement can withstand several games or an absence of uncertain length.
Heiskanen played 9:41 before leaving early in Tuesday’s second period following a hit by Justin Sourdif. Dallas had dressed six defensemen and finished with five available. The remaining group got through that game, which gives the Stars something to examine as they prepare for Columbus. It does not settle how those responsibilities should be distributed over a longer absence.
Esa Lindell and Thomas Harley carried the largest full-game workloads Tuesday, playing 26:32 and 24:43, respectively. Lindell blocked four shots and recorded the primary assist on Roope Hintz’s 6-3 goal. Harley blocked five shots and added two assists. Those contributions helped Dallas stay ahead in a game that could easily have become a defensive scramble.
The rest of the blue line’s totals underline how much the situation stretched the group. Tyler Myers played 21:19, Nils Lundkvist logged 18:40 and Lian Bichsel played 15:57. Those are the complete-game numbers, not a minute-by-minute map of what happened after Heiskanen exited. Treating them as a clean blueprint would be a mistake, especially when the game itself kept changing shape.
Washington finished with 25 shots to Dallas’s 22 and took 12 shots in the third period, while the Stars managed four. The Capitals also went 2-for-3 on the power play. Dallas’s offense supplied six goals, including production from its defensemen, and that was enough to carry the night.
It does not mean the defensive workload had become comfortable. It means the attack gave the club room to survive an unstable evening.
That is the awkward part of a 6-5 victory: it provides evidence of resilience while also showing why resilience cannot become the whole plan. Lindell and Harley handled large assignments and contributed at the other end, but a single game cannot establish that they should repeatedly absorb the kind of responsibility Heiskanen normally carries.
